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by Duke Cole DVM (Author)
This story is about how on a hope a mother gets a horse for a young man with autism. Drawn into the emotional nature of horses, a life changing bond forms between this young man and both the best and the worst horse he could learn from. The stubborn and defiant will of Rocky challenges him to understand the body language through which horses communicate their emotions. As these two minds learn from their struggle together, competing on who will be the leader on the trail, an autistic mind experiences a revolutionary change in which he discovers he can read the body language and learn how to understand the emotional nature of this majestic creature. Using information that he could not previously see, he quickly grows into an excelling rider exploring nature with this horse that constantly challenges him for position as leader. Sadly, Rocky learns as much from this young man as he learns from Rocky. After a year, Rocky is no longer safe to ride, and this young man must give up the bond he has created. Heartbroken, he searches for a new horse with all the good but none of the bad of the first. He finds this horse as he discovers a path to veterinary school and continues his discovery of the emotions communicated through body language, but not just those of horses but of the people around him. Struggling to understand the nuances of communication used by the students at his community college, the struggle to connect with others continues at a university as his young horse learns and grows from the adventures they experience together. Through an ambition to learn the emotions that governed Rocky, an autistic mind learns how to see the passion, the desires, the fears, the unwillingness to stop fighting one another and through it, learns to see himself. The self-discovery catalyzes revolutionary changes that carry him through struggles, injuries, rejection, heartbreaks, disappointments, loneliness, through the exceedingly difficult accomplishment of gaining entry into a veterinary college and into a world of emotion and compassion.
